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This passage actually talks about money offering: “And Jesus sat over against the treasury, and beheld how the people cast money into the treasury.” (v41) It is interesting that Jesus’ denouncement of the scribes (Mark 12:38-40) was followed by the incident of a widow’s offering in the temple’s treasury. While Jesus strongly condemned the wickedness of the scribes, he greatly praised the behavior of the widow. After studying the reason behind Jesus’ commendation of the widow’s offering, we shall compare the extremely different characters of the scribes and the widow.
(Contrast: rich vs poor & much vs little)
There is a sharp contrast in the terms and phrases used to describe the offerings of the rich and the poor: for the rich—“many that were rich cast in much” (v41) and for the poor—“a certain poor widow…threw in two mites, which make a farthing” (‘two very small copper coins, worth only a fraction of a penny’ NIV).(v42) The contrasts are: rich vs poor and much vs little. The wealthy gives a lot while the poor gives a little amount, which is very normal and common in human eyes. But the point that Jesus wanted to bring forward lies in the next verse: “And he called unto him his disciples, and saith unto them, ‘Verily I say unto you, That this poor widow hath cast more in, than all they which have cast into the treasury.’ ” (v43) Jesus greatly praised the widow that the amount of money she offered was more than the total sum of the amount offered by all the rich people! This is an abnormal contrast that is the reverse of the above-mentioned “normal” contrast as we commonly see in our daily lives.
Why did Jesus say that the widow offered more amount than the sum of the rich people’s offerings? The reason was: the wealthy “cast in of their abundance; but she of her want did cast in all that she had, even all her living”. (v44) Why did the widow offer even far more than the rich in the eyes of Jesus? Jesus stresses that when God observes our money offering, it is not the amount of money that counts but the percentage of the wealth that one possesses in the offering that weighs more. By this standard, the widow offered 100% of her wealth whereas the rich offered only a tiny fraction of their wealth. With only a tiny fraction of their wealth, no matter how many of the rich people added up their offerings, the percentage was still far from reaching 100%. So, in the eyes of God, the poor widow offered more than all the rich.
(Implication)
Now let us examine our church offerings. When we make offerings in our church, we usually pay attention to the amount of money we offer. Those who offer more money to the church usually receive higher honour in the heart of the congregation, especially in the case of the church that lists the amount of money offered by each named individual per month on the ‘announcement’ section of the worship agenda. Those who offer great amount naturally receive much attention. The list of individual offerings can cause those who offer more to become proud of themselves, just like the rich people who cast huge amount of money into the treasury of the temple.
Those who offer more will be proud to be the ‘generous’ giver, and they may even think that God must be very pleased with their contributions. On the contrary, those who offer very little are usually neglected, like the poor widow. However, Jesus called his disciples to place their attention specifically on the poor widow! And he explained to them why she ought to deserve more attention—and higher honour. As a matter of fact, her tiny contribution proudly drew the attention of the Son of God, who took his valuable time toward the end of his life to sit “over against the treasury, and beheld how the people cast money into the treasury”—actually to wait for the poor widow to appear and watch her offer! Then he gave the disciples a very important spiritual lesson about money offering.
(tithe offering)
In reality, when it comes to the percentage of our earning income for the monthly offering, 10% of our income is the minimum amount required by God, as stated in the Bible about the tithe offering: “bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house…saith the Lord of hosts.” (Malachi 3:10) What if we contribute less than 10%? Malachi 3:8 says, “Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, ‘Wherein have we robbed thee?’ In tithes and offerings.” In other words, offering less than 10% will be considered by God as “ye have robbed me”. So, 10% of our income should belong to God and has become our basic contribution, so that “there may be meat in mine house”. This is the offering standard understood by every Christian.
The thing is that: after we have offered 10% of our income to our church each month, we are very satisfied with it, aren’t we? Why? It is because we have fulfilled our duties as a Christian to meet the basic requirement of the offering stipulated by God. Our self-contentment shares the same feeling of the rich people who have supposedly cast their tithe offerings into the treasury of the temple.
(offering more than tithe)
On the other hand, if we are challenged by the church minister to offer more than 10%, how shall we feel or react? To offer extra money beyond our tithe offering, we must begin to feel some pressure. Common reasons (or excuses) could be:
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we have a tight budget to make both ends meet, especially in economic downturn.
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we are not willing to sacrifice or reduce our extra consumption on leisure items beyond our basic needs.
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we may even doubt if there is any urgent need to inject extra offering to the treasury of the church.
Whatever reasons may harbor in our minds, we simply find it a tough decision to give up our extra possession out of our own pocket. Even if we manage to take the action of offering beyond the tithe (to the church or other gospel/welfare organizations), we may feel a bit uneasy for our action instead of feeling the contentment that we enjoy in contributing tithe offering.
Why is it so tough a decision to make when offering beyond the tithe? First, we always regard our money as our own property instead of God’s belongings. However, we may purely think it this way: since our whole person belongs to our Lord, everything that we possess belongs to God. We are only the manager (steward) of the wealth that God entrusts us to manage. Luke 12:42-44 records, “the Lord (Jesus) said, ‘Who then is that faithful and wise steward, whom his lord shall make ruler over his household, to give them their portion of meat in due season? Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he cometh shall find so doing. Of a truth I say unto you, that he will make him ruler over all that he hath.’ ” If we can use the concept of a steward to treat money offering, then we will not feel hard pressed to make extra offering. As a good steward of God, we are actually investing God’s money in His own ministries!
Second, when we consider our own ‘need’ (actually ‘desire’) in our entertainment or leisure items and compare it with the need of God’s ministries, which is more important? If we feel obliged to put God's ministries in first priority, for any offering that God demands from us for His ministry, we, as God’s steward, should with an obedient heart find it easier to be generous in making contributions.
Third, we always lack the faith that God is the all-provider and our basic needs are guaranteed by His promise, as Jesus reminds us in Matt 6:25-26: “Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment? Behold the fowls of the air, for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they?” Further, let us look back at how God encourages us to offer tithe: “Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.” (Mal 3:10) Offering tithes already causes God to pour upon us a blessing “that there shall not be room enough to receive it”. In case our offering exceeds the tithes, the blessings that we shall receive from heaven must far exceed what we think or ask!
(Contrast: many vs one & common vs rare)
Another contrast has to do with the number of people who made the offerings: many rich people vs one poor widow. What did this imply? It implied that it was easy to find a lot of wealthy people “cast in of their abundance”; but, it was very rare to find a poor lady “cast in all that she had, even all her living”. (v44)
Now it’s time for us to gather how come the poor widow was willing to cast all her possession, even when she was “of her want”. How could she make such a tough decision so easily? It seems to every one of us that she was doing something very unrealistic and hard to comprehend. Judging from the sacrifice she was willing to make, we can at least find some very valuable attributes in this widow:
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Since she was now coming to the Treasury of the Holy Temple to offer money, we have reason to believe that she always came to the Holy Temple, not just to make offering but to worship God. She must have maintained a constant loving relationship with God.
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She perceived godly need far more important than her physical need.
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She put her full trust in God as for making a living. She had strong faith that God would not let her starve to death, especially when she was doing something that pleased God. She gladly offered more than she could afford, unlike any of us who feels great pressure for so doing.
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Perhaps God has answered her prayer in meeting more urgent needs. She kept her promise to offer everything she possessed. (a wishful guess)
(liken the offering of the churches of Macedonia)
The widow’s willingness to offer more than she could afford is aptly reflected in the contributing spirit of the churches of Macedonia. In II Cor 8:1-5, Paul gives high commendation to the Macedonians in their contribution of grace offering (慈惠金) in order to help the needy in the Lord. Following are the reasons that make their offering a powerful testimony:
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they offer under great tribulation—“in a great trial of affliction” (8:1)
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they are in severe lack of resources—“their deep poverty” (8:2)
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they offer gladly and generously with aggressive attitude and full contentment—“the abundance of their joy…abounded unto the riches of their liberality” (8:2)
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they willingly offer beyond their capability—“to their power…and beyond their power they were willing of themselves” (8:3)
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they strongly desire to participate in God’s ministry of helping other Christians in need—“praying us with much entreaty that we would receive the gift, and take upon us the fellowship of the ministering to the saints” (8:4). This is the key force to motivate them to offer with pleasure.
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they have full obedience in their faith—“first gave their own selves to the Lord, and unto us by the will of God” (8:5). With good spirit, they are submissive to the will of God. This is the source of power behind their motivation to offer.
(Contrast: the scribes vs the widow)
Lastly, let us compare the characters and outcomes of the scribes and the widow to see the sharp contrast between the two.
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The scribes cared about the outer appearance; the widow cared about the inner being.
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The scribes pretended to be religious; the widow was a truth practicer.
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The scribes cherished human honour; the widow reflected God’s honour.
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The scribes were merciless in that they robbed the widows of their properties; the widow showed the full mercy of Jesus by keeping nothing for herself but offering everything that she possessed.
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The scribes loved men’s praise; the widow received the Lord’s praise.
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The scribes were to receive condemnation; the widow gained eternal life by trusting God.
(Conclusion)
The widow possessed all the above good attributes of the Macedonians. In return, she has drawn the attention and earned the praise of the Son of God. Besides, her brief story is recorded in the Bible (Mark 12:41-44 and Luke 21:1-4) as a great spiritual lesson for us in terms of money offering. That makes her a rare contributor and excellent example in God’s kingdom.
There is a lot for us to learn from the poor widow and the Macedonians. As we make our church offering in Sunday worship every week, we have to constantly review our thinking, our heart and attitude. Hopefully, we can build up the mentality of offering more than we can afford with greater joy in support of our church and other Godly ministries.